On the oeuvre of Nobuo Uematsu, the Beethoven of video game music.
Japanese musician and composer Nobuo Uematsu has built his career and reputation on his soundtracks to the enduring Final Fantasy video game series, which are notable for their remarkable cinematic feel. Today Uematsu is one of Japan’s most beloved living composers, credited with inspiring a new generation of classical music fans. This volume, the first book-length study of the music of Uematsu, takes a variety of different analytical approaches to his body of work. It offers readers interested in ludomusicology—the study of and research into video game music—a variety of ways with which to understand Uematsu’s compositional process and the role that video game music has in the overall gaming experience.
Edited by:
Richard Anatone
Imprint: Intellect Books
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Edition: New edition
Dimensions:
Height: 244mm,
Width: 170mm,
ISBN: 9781789385540
ISBN 10: 1789385547
Series: Studies in Game Sound and Music
Pages: 372
Publication Date: 16 August 2022
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
List of Illustrations Foreword: Dear Friends – William Gibbons Introduction – Richard Anatone PART 1: CONERIA CASTLE 1. Dancing Mad: Music and the Apotheosis of Villainy in Final Fantasy – Jessica Kizzire 2. The Devil in the Detail: Analyzing Nobuo Uematsu’s “One- Winged Angel” from Final Fantasy VII – James S. Tate 3. Changing Times: The Diatonic Rhythms of Nobuo Uematsu’s Final Fantasy Battle Music – Ross Mitchell PART 2: NIBELHEIM 4. Thus Spake Uematsu: Satirical Parody in the Opening Sequence to Final Fantasy VI – Richard Anatone 5. That Tune Really Holds the Game Together: Thematic Families in Final Fantasy IX – Sean Atkinson 6. A Link between Worlds: The Construction of Nostalgia in Game Music and Final Fantasy IX – James L. Tate PART 3: THE LUNAR WHALE 7. Penultimate Fantasies: Compositional Precedents in Uematsu’s Early Works – Alan Elkins 8. Music and Narrative Experience in Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn – Stephen Tatlow 9. Music, Mediation, Memory: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy – Julianne Grasso PART 4: THE WORLD OF BALANCE 10. Feminine Themings: The Construction of Musical Gendering in the Final Fantasy Franchise – Thomas B. Yee 11. Uematsu’s Postgame: The Music of Final Fantasy in the Concert Hall (and Beyond) – Stefan Greenfield- Casas 12. Historical Narratology and the “Hymn of the Fayth” in Final Fantasy X – Andrew S. Powell and Sam Dudley Notes on Contributors Indexes
Richard Anatone is a professor of music theory at Prince George's Community College in Largo, Maryland.
